In Retrospect.

Great films have been made from much less than Stieg Larsson’s posthumously published novel. But with all the fanfare surrounding his Millennium Trilogy over the last few years, not to mention the high profile of the popular Swedish-language adaptations, it’s hard to get too excited about this opportune Hollywood retake.

Rooney Mara is the eponymous ink-branded heroine with a troubled past who abets Daniel Craig’s disgraced journo Mikael Blomkvist in a missing persons case in rural Sweden (Fincher shrewdly retains the original setting). With his investigative nous and her mad cyber-hacking skills, it’s not long before the pair starts to unravel the sinister mystery that’s haunted the affluent Vanger clan for almost 40 years.

That’s not to say Mara doesn’t give a ballsy, credible performance; it’s more that her Lisbeth Salander is inherently vulnerable when measured against Noomi Rapace’s androgynous meta-siren.

As such, Mara’s Salander can be read as a naked endorsement of the source novel’s voyeuristic and misogynistic subtext. While any undercurrent of sexual gratification derived from the objectification and torture of women is likely to remain a grey area, one thing is crystal: this frosty tale of murder, scandal and sub-Jonathan Creek twists, coupled with the news that Martin Scorsese is set to take on Jo Nesbø’s ‘The Snowman’, suggests that the Scandi potboiler boom is only just getting started.

About Little White Lies

Little White Lies was established in 2005 as a bi-monthly print magazine committed to championing great movies and the talented people who make them. Combining cutting-edge design, illustration and journalism, we’ve been described as being “at the vanguard of the independent publishing movement.” Our reviews feature a unique tripartite ranking system that captures the different aspects of the movie-going experience. We believe in Truth & Movies.